Reclining chair with extensible back



Aug. 1, 1961 M. FOX

RECLINING CHAIR WITH EXTENSIBLE: BACK 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 18, 1957 Aug. 1, 1961 M. Fox

RECLINING CHAIR WITH ExTENsIBLr-z BACK 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 18. 1957 Aug. l, 1961 M. Fox

RECLINING CHAIR WITH ExTENsIBLE BACK A 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 18. 1957 oivzegs @www/www@ 'United States Patent O 2,994,363 RECLINING CHAIR glTH EXTENSIBLE BA Martin Fox, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The Seng Company, a corporation of Illinois Filed July 18, 1957, Ser. No. 672,635' 7 Claims. (Cl. 297-322) This invention relates to a reclining chair, and in particular it relates to a reclining chair in which the back extends rearwardly with respect to the seat as the chair moves from a normal, upright position to a reclining position.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an improved reclining chair, and particularly one in which the distance from the front of the seat to the upper end of the back increases as the chair is moved to reclining position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a reclining chair construction in which the front of the seat is substantially in the same horizontal plane in upright and in reclining positions, while the pitch from front to rear increases on movement to reclining position; and the angle and space between the back and the seat both increase during this movement.

The invention is illustrated in a preferred embodiment in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary sectional view of a reclining chair embodying the invention, with the parts in normal, upright position;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 with the parts in reclining position;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary section taken as indicated along the line 3 3 of FIG, 1', and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section on an enlarged scale taken as indicated along lthe line 4 4 of FIG. 3.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail, a reclining chair has a base frame indicated generally at in which is mounted a reclining chair operating mechanism, indicated generally at 11, which is so constructed that it may be substantially preassembled and sold to a furniture manufacturer who combines it with a base frame 10, an upholstered seat 12, and an upholstered back 13.

The operating mechanism 11 consists principally of pairs of parts which are mounted on the two sides of the base frame 10 and the two sides of the seat 12 and back 13, so that only one of the pairs of elements in each case will be described. Thus, on each side of the chair there is a mounting plate 14 which is secured to the inner side of the base 10 to support the entire operating mechanism, seat and back. At the forward portion of the mounting plate 14 is a pivot 15 for a front supporting arm 16 for the chair seat 12, which is pivoted at 16a to a front supporting bracket 17 on the chair seat; while toward the rear of the mounting plate 14 is a pivot 18 for a rear supporting arm 19 which is pivotally connected at 2t) to a depending rear support bracket 21 on the seat 12.

A slotted limit link 22 is pivoted at 23 on the mounting plate 14, and has a longitudinal slot 24 engaging a threaded pin 25 on the rear mounting arm 19 for the chair seat. Thus, the slotted link 22 serves to limit movement of the seat 12 both in its forward, normal position as seen in FIG. l, and in its reclining position as seen in FIG. 2. A wing nut 26 is received on the threaded pin 25 to permit selective clamping of the link 22 and the rear support arm 19. so that the seat 12 may be retained in any desired 'position between its forward and rearward limit positions.

Comparison of FIGS. l and 2 discloses that the seat 12 is so mounted on the front arms 16 and the rear arms 19 that it is pitched from front to rear at a predetermined angle in its normal position, and is more sharply pitched in its reclining position, lalthough the front of the seat CTI 2,994,363 Patented Aug. 1., 1961 remains in practically the same horizontal plane in both positions. It will be observed that during movement from the position of FIG. 1 to that of FIG. 2 the scat pivot 16a on the front supporting arm 16 travels in an arc which is substantially bisected by a vertical line through the pivot 15 for the arm. Thus, the pivot 16a is about the same distance below the Zenith of the arc in both of its limit positions, so that it is substantially on the same horizont-al line in both positions. Rear arm 19, on the other hand, is seen in FIG. l to have its seat supporting pivot 20 only a very short distance ahead of 'a vertical radius through the pivot 18 for the arm, so that on movement to the reclining position of FIG. 2 the pivot 20 swings through an arc which is almost entirely to the rear of the vertical radius, and accordingly the rear of the seat drops down during this movement to reclining position.

Another important relationship between the front seat arms 16 and the rear seat arms 19 is that the radius of the rear arms, from their pivots 18 to the seat pivots 20, is substantially longer than the radius of the arms 16 from their pivots 15 to the seat pivots 16a. Accordingly, the rear arms 119 swing through a smaller yarc than do the arms 16, although their respective seat pivots necessarily traverse the same arcuate distance.

Behind each of the rear seat arms 19, and below the pivot 18, the mounting plate 114 is provided with a pivot 27 `for an upstanding back link 28 at the upper end of which is a pivot 29 mounted in a supporting bracket 30 on the back 13. As best seen in FIG. 4, the bracket 30 has an odset portion 31 providing a slideway 32 through which is slidably extended a back guide arm 33 which is seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 to be an integral upward and rearward extension of the rear seat arms 19 from the rear seat pivots 20. Thus, it may be seen from comparison of FIGS. l and 2 that the back member swings freely with respect to the base 10 on the links 28, and that movement of the back is guided by the extensions 33 so that as the seat moves between its normal position and its reclining position the back also moves between two such positions, with the angle of the back with respect to the seat and also the spacing of the back with respect to the seat increasing during the movement to reclining position. Accordingly, the total distance along the supporting surfaces of the seat 12 land the back 13, from the front of the seat to the top of the back, increases during the movement to the reclining position of FIG. 2.

The seat and back are urged toward their normal, upright position by a tension spring 34 which is secured at one end to a bracket 35 on the underside of the seat 12 and at the other end to an attaching bracket 36 on pivot 15.

A leg rest mechanism, indicated generally at 37, includes a leg rest 38 on the underside of which is a bracket 39 provided with pivots 40 and 41 toreceive a pair of parallel links 42 and 43, respectively. Actuation of the leg rest 33 to move it from the depending position of FIG. 1 to the forwardly extended and elevated position of FIG. 2 is accomplished by an actuating arm 44 which is an integral extension of front seat arm 16 below its connection with its mounting pivot 15, and the actuating arm 44 is pivotally connected at 45 to the parallel link 42 and at 46 to the parallel link 43. To guide the movement of the leg rest 38 between the upright position of FIG. 1 and the reclining position of FIG. 2, a guide link 47 is pivotally connected at 48 to the mounting member 14, and at 49 to the free end of parallel link 42.

The leg rest suspension linkage 37 necessarily moves from the upright position of FIG. 1 to the reclining position of FIG. 2 in conjunction and coordination with the movement of the seat 12 to its rearward, reclining position, because the leg rest linkage 37 is directly actuated by movement of the seat 12 to its reclining position, while being guided in its movement by the guide link 47.

The reclining chair disclosed herein is particularly advantageous for tall persons, because not only does the back 13 move rearwardly with respect to the seat during travel to reclining position, but the leg rest 38 is thrust forwardly with respect to the seat 12 during travel to reclining position. Thus, the overall length of the chair from the extreme upper portion of the back 13 to the extreme outer portion of the leg rest 3S is considerably longer than it is in reclining chairs heretofore available.

The foregoing detailed descriptio-n is given for clearness of understanding only and no` unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, as modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

l. In a reclining chair, in combination: a base; a seat having front and rear margins; means mounting the seat on the base for movement between -a normal position at a predetermined pitch from front to rear and a reclining position at an increased pitch; a back which has a pair of links connecting it 'to the base adjacent the rear of the seat, and said back having a lower end and an upper end; and guide means providing a sliding connection between the seat and the back to guide the back in synchronization with the movement of the seat between a normal position at a given angle to the seat and a reclining position at an increased angle, said guide means functioning to increase the ldistance from the front margin of the seat to the upper end ot the back as the seat and back move toward reclining position.

2. In a reclining chair, in combination: a base; a seat having front and rear margins; a plurality of seat links connecting the seat to the base for movement between a normal position at a predetermined pitch from front to rear and a reclining position at an increased pitch; a back which has a pair of links connecting it to the base adjacent the rear of the seat, said back having a lower end and an upper end; and guide means forming a sliding connection between the seat links and the back to guide the back in synchronization with the movement of the seat between a normal position at a `given angle to the seat and a reclining position at an increased angle, said guide means functioning to increase the dist-ance from the front margin of the seat to the upper end of the back as the sealt and back move toward reclining position.

3. In a reclining chair, in combination: a base; iront and rear seat links pivoted on the base; a seat pivotally supported on said seat links for movement between a normal position at a predetermined pitch from front to rear and a reclining position at an increased pitch, said seat having front and rear margins; back links pivoted on the base behind the rear links; a back pivotally mounted on said back links, said back having a lower end and an upper end; and rigid upward extensions on said rear links slidably engaging the back to guide -it in synchronization with the movement of the sea-t between a normal position at a given an-gle to the seat and a reclining position at an increased angle, said guide means `functioning to increase the distance from the front margin of the seat to the upper end of the back as the seat and back move toward reclining position.

4. In a reclining chair, in combination: a base; a seat having front and rear margins; a plurality of seat links connecting the seat to the base for movement between a normal position at a predetermined pitch from front to rear and a reclining position at an increased pitch, the

front of the seat in both said positions being substantially in the same horizontal plane; a back which has a pair of links connecting it to the base adjacent the rear of the seat, said back having a lower end and an upper end; and guide means forming a sliding connection between the seat and the back to guide the back in synchronization with the movement of the seat between a normal position at a given angle to the seat and a reclining position at an increased angle, said guide means functioning to increase the distance from the front margin of the seat to the upper end of the back as the seat and back move toward reclining position.

5. In a reclining chair, in combination: a base; generally upstanding front and rear seat links pivotally mounted on the base; a seat pivotally connected to said front links on a short radius and to said rear links on a longer radius, whereby said seat may occupy a normal position at a predetermined pitch from front to rear and a reclining position at an increased pit-ch, said seat having -front and rear margins; limit means on the base which limits movement of the front links to an angle which is substantially bisected by a vertical plane through their pivotal connections with the base; a pair of back links pivotally mounted on the base, behind said rear links; a back pivoted on said back links on a longer radius than that of said rear links, said back having a lower end and an upper end; and guide means forming a sliding connection between the back and the rear links to guide the back in synchronization with the movement of the seat between a normal posi-tion at a given angle to the seat and a reclining position at an increased angle, said guide means functioning to increase the distance from the front margin of the seat to the upper end of the back as the seat and back move toward reclining position.

6. In a reclining chair, in combination: a base; a pair of short, upstanding front links pivotally mounted on the base; a pair of longer rear links pivotally mounted on the base in a plane below the pivots for the front links; limit means on the base and operatively connected with one of said links to limit the movement of all said links to a predetermined angle, the angle of movement of the front links being substantially bisected by a vertical radius through the pivots for said lfront links, and the angle of movement of the rear links being predominantly to the rear of a vertical radius through the pivots for said rear links; a seat pivotally connected to all said links so that the radius of the rear links is greater than the radius of the front links and the seat s pitched rearwardly in both limit positions of the links, said seat having front and rear margins; a pair of back links pivotally connected to the base behind and below the rear links; a back pivotally mounted on the back links on a substantially longer radius than that of said rear links, said back hav-ing a lower end and an upper end; slideways on said back; and integral guide arms on the rear links extending upwardly and rearwardly from the rear seat pivots and into said slideways to guide the back in synchronization with the movement of the seat, whereby the angle between the back and the seat varies aft the limit positions of the seat links, and the distance from the front margin of the seat to the upper end of the back is greater in one limit position.

7. In a reclining chair, in combination: a base; a seat having front and rear margins; a pair of rear seat links movably mounting the rear of Ithe seat on the base; means movably mounting the front of the seat on the base, said links and said means cooperating to permit movement of the seat between a normal position at a predetermined pitch from front to rear and a reclining position at an increased pit-tch; a back which has a pair of links connecting it to the base adjacent the rear of the seat, said back having a lower end and an upper end; and guide means forming a sliding connection between the seat links and the back to guide fthe back in synchronization with the movement of 'the seat between a normal position at a given angle to the seat and a re- 'clining position at an increased angle, said guide means Vfunctioning to'increase the distance from the front margin of the seat to the upper end of the back as the seat and back move toward reclining position.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Holt Aug. 11, 1936 Ducrot Aug. 9, 1938 

